A new complaints system will make it easier to report universities who fail to protect staff from intimidation over views on topics such as race, gender and climate, the Government has announced.
From the next academic year, the Office for Students (OfS) will will run a “first-of-its-kind” scheme allowing members of staff, external speakers non-student members to voice complaints about institution, the Department for Education (DfE) said.
The regulator will be handed the authority to probe concerns, advise universities to review decisions, pay damages or overhaul their systems.
The OfS will also be allowed to dish out fines to universities for breaching their duties under the Freedom of Speech Act from next April.
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Financial penalties could reach £500,000 or two per cent of the institution's income.
In the most egregious cases, universities could risk losing public funding - or even be deregistered altogether.
The OfS said it has received a number of complaints from academics and external speakers about being "harassed and blocked" because of their views on controversial topics, such as religion, gender or climate.
The regulator said university staff had also voiced concerns about foreign interference restricting academic freedom, and job adverts requiring specific ideological positions.
The OfS will be allowed to dish out fines to universities for breaching their duties under the Freedom of Speech Act
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Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “Freedom of speech is the foundation of every university’s success, enabling them to foster robust debate and exchange challenging ideas respectfully.
“But there are far too many cases where academics and speakers are being silenced, inciting an unacceptable culture of fear and stifling the pursuit of knowledge.
“The urgency is clear which is why we are strengthening protections and empowering the regulator to restore our world-class universities as engines of opportunity, aspiration and growth.”
The DfE has insisted the new system will be free of charge to use and “empower more people to raise concerns confidently".
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Bridget Phillipson said 'there are far too many cases where academics and speakers are being silenced'
| GETTYIn August, the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act came into force - forcing Britain's universities to "actively promote academic freedom" on campus.
Under the new rules, institutions were banned from using non-disclosure agreements to silence victims of campus misconduct in the aims of protecting vulnerable individuals who have experienced harassment, abuse or sexual assault.
In March 2025, the University of Sussex was given a landmark fine of £585,000 after it was found to have failed to uphold free speech.
The fine came after a three-and-a-half year investigation into the resignation of Professor Kathleen Stock, launched after high-profile protests calling for her dismissal over her gender-critical views.
The University of Sussex was forced to pay a £585,000 fine over a failure to uphold free speech | GETTYFree Speech Union (FSU) director Toby Young hailed the new system as "welcome news", but urged the Government to roll out a similar system for students - to protect those like Connie Shaw or Brodie Mitchell.
He insisted that the FSU will "continue to campaign for their inclusion".
Meanwhile, Shadow Education Secretary Laura Trott said university staff had been left “exposed to censorship with no clear route of redress”.
“Protecting free speech in our universities is fundamental to academic freedom, and this step is welcome but long overdue after years of delay from Labour," she added.
And Edward Skidelsky, a lecturer at Exeter University and director of the Committee for Academic Freedom, said: "No longer will universities be able to bully with impunity academics who refuse to toe the standard line on race, gender, climate and many other issues."
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